The operation is aimed at preventing Iran from using land routes to transport weapons and other materials, US Central Command says, “to prevent Iran from using land routes to transport advanced weapons and other materials.” Recommended Stories 3-item listend list Task Force Iron Gate will reinforce “the success of our tough blockade against Iran at sea,” said CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper. Based in Tampa, Florida, the task force will coordinate with other U.S. government agencies “to prevent the movement of advanced weapons systems, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials, and illegal revenue flows across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea.” CENTCOM said. Michael Mulroy, former US deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, told Al Jazeera that the task force’s role will be to find out where “the weapons systems come in, how they could potentially be cut off” and how “Iran is transporting its energy”. He added that if US President Donald Trump orders an escalation of the war, it will likely be attacks against this “series of targets.” “Unlike Operation Epic Fury, which focuses primarily on military targets, I think these targets” CENTCOM said separately on Saturday that it had disabled a commercial cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman as part of its blockade of Iranian ports. A “US military aircraft fired precision munitions into the stern of the St. Kitts-flagged M/V Huda, disabling the ship after CENTCOM forces ordered the crew to abandon target spaces.” he said in a statement. “Enforcement actions since July have resulted in U.S. forces redirecting 147 commercial vessels that complied” and deactivating “five merchant vessels that refused to comply,” he added. attacks on the island of Qeshm a day earlier, but he downplayed them as “minor.” He added that Tehran still wants a deal while Qatar-brokered talks continue. Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy reported that two oil tankers hit mines near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. Iranian state television, citing the navy, said the tankers had passed through an “unsafe” part of the strait with their navigation systems turned off. “They were severely damaged and stopped after hitting sea mines.”
